EAST LANSING -- Like the unsettling effect of a dolly zoom, the light at the end of Michigan State's injury tunnel seems to remain at the same distance no matter how fast Tom Izzo runs towards it.

Thursday marked the return of Adreian Payne and possibly the halfway point of Branden Dawson's recovery. But the Spartans' 82-67 win over Penn State also marked the first game of the season without Keith Appling.

"I can't tell you what it was like yesterday," Izzo said. "I'm sitting in my office preparing for practice. I talked to Keith the night before and it sounded like things were getting better. Then the trainer calls and says, 'He can hardly move his wrist.'"

Appling's wrist injury began when he hit the deck against North Carolina back on Dec.4 and has been re-aggravated multiple times since. Until Thursday night, it had not cost the senior a game. In fact, Appling hadn't missed a game his entire career.

Now the question is: When will he return?

"I have no idea," Izzo said. "This has been the most frustrating. It's beyond disgusting. I have no timeframe. I know he won't practice tomorrow. Whether he does on Saturday or plays Sunday or whether we're going (to Wisconsin) without him. I wish I could tell you. If I knew, I'd tell you."

The No. 9 Spartans (20-3, 9-1) play the Badgers (18-5, 5-5) Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. It's the only regular season meeting Izzo and his old foe Bo Ryan. The Kohl Center may be more hostile than normal with Wisconsin fans on the heels of the first three-game home losing streak under Ryan. It's a place Izzo doesn't want to visit without his senior point guard.

"We need Keith," Izzo said. "Keith is still our best defender, he's still our best athlete and he's having a monster year considering what he's played with for the last month and a half. It got better after the North Carolina game until I think we started the Big Ten (season).

"I don't know what Keith will be able to do, but I know if he can play, he will play."

Appling hasn't been able to do what he can do for some time. Prior to the wrist injury, Appling was leading the Big Ten in 3-point field-goal percentage. Since re-aggravating the injury against Indiana on Jan.21, his statistics have plummeted in almost every category except for minutes.

Appling has shot 30.8 percent from the field in the past four games and has gone 3-for-15 from 3-point range. Over the same four-game period, Appling has shot just 48.6 percent from the free-throw line.

For Izzo, the tolerance for another injury has all but evaporated. His starting lineup against Penn State was Michigan State's 13th different lineup of the season and its 12th in the past 18 games.

When Travis Trice came up limping with 9:40 to go in the game, Izzo could do nothing more than breathe out slowly and put his hand over his eyes. Trice was fine, but the mere thought of another guy going down may have sent him running down Harrison Road mumbling unintelligible thoughts.

"That does a lot to a team," Izzo said. "I don't want to make little of it; I don't want to make too much of it. But if you think about it, we've had four of our best players and all five starters have been out."